OCCUPATIONAL STRESS

Nixon, A. E., Mazzola, J. J., Bauer, J., Krueger, J. R., & Spector P. E. (2011). Can work make you sick? A meta-analysis of job stressor-physical symptom relationships. Work & Stress, 25, 1-22.

A quantitative summary (meta-analysis) of 79 job stress studies was produced to show to what extent various stressful working conditions were linked to physical health symptoms, such as digestive disorder, headache, and fatigue. Having interpersonal conflicts with coworkers, difficulty in doing the job due to insufficient resources, having competing demands, and having heavy workloads all related to physical health.

Bruk-Lee, V. B., Nixon, A. E., & Spector, P. E. (2013). Social stressors at work and employee well-being: Does the type of conflict matter. Work & Stress, 27, 339-350.

A diverse sample of 237 American employees were surveyed about their conflicts with coworkers and their health. Results showed that high levels of conflict were associated with feelings of negative emotions, physical health symptoms, and cardiovascular disease risk factors (hypertension and/or elevated cholesterol). They also tended to be dissatisfied with their jobs.

WORKPLACE VIOLENCE

Spector, P. E., Zhou, Z. E., & Che, X. X. (2014). Nurse exposure to physical and nonphysical violence, bullying, and sexual harassment: A quantitative review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 51, 72-84.

A quantitative summary (meta-analysis) of 136 survey studies of more than 150,000 nurse worldwide provides a snapshot of the extent to which they are subject to mistreatment and violence at work. Overall, more than a third of nurses say they are physically assaulted (mostly by patients) or bullied, about two-thirds say they are verbally assaulted, and a quarter say they are sexually harassed. The likelihood of experiencing mistreatment/violence varies with the nursing setting, with emergency, geriatric, and psychiatric settings having the highest levels.

Yang, L. Q., Spector, P. E., Chang, C. H., Gallant-Roman, M., & Powell, J. (2012). Psychosocial precursors and physical consequences of workplace violence towards nurses: A longitudinal examination with naturally occurring groups in hospital settings. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 49, 1091-1102.

Violence prevention climate, the extent to which hospitals have policies and practices to protect nurses from being assaulted or mistreated, is a potential factor that can help keep nurses safe. This study of 176 nurses from two U.S. hospitals was designed to show whether climate is an important factor in physical assaults. Results showed that nurses who perceived the climate to be good were less likely to be assaulted. The nurses were surveyed twice over a six month period, so the study was able to rule out that being assaulted would affect how nurses view the climate.